A problem American Airlines faced with its de-icer at Monroe Regional Airport has been fixed, in time for the cold front that’s moved into town this weekend.
Last Thursday, American Airlines flight 4780 to Dallas-Fort Worth was delayed by about two hours when it couldn’t de-ice in time to depart, said David Abbitt, a passenger aboard the plane.
Abbitt told The News-Star the pilot informed passengers there was a problem: the plane’s aerodynamics would be affected by the ice coating the plane, and Monroe’s new airport terminal wasn’t equipped with the right power outlets for the airlines’ de-icing equipment.
Passengers deboarded as the crew let the plane defrost naturally, he said.
Abbitt, who was on a business trip, missed his connection to New York —and his meeting — causing him to have to stay an extra night at his company’s expense.
“Although the airline employees were accommodating, the passengers were all frustrated,” Abbitt wrote. ”I was incensed that the airport administration’s oversight was costing my company hundreds of otherwise unnecessary dollars.”
But the problem wasn’t caused by the airport, according to airport Director Cleve Norrell.
The new terminal is fitted with the needed plug points, equipped for “all kind of connections,” Norrell said.
“It was an airline equipment problem instead of an electrical problem with the airport,” he said. “It was a problem that they had, but they thought it was our plug.”
Norrell said the airlines had the wrong voltage for the de-icing machine.
“They thought their machine was 230 volts, but it was actually 120 volts,” he said.
An airline mechanic from Dallas-Fort Worth has since come to Monroe to address the issue, Norrell said, adding that the problem was fixed by the next day.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, American Airlines’ media relations office couldn’t provide a comment on the issue.
However, the de-icing problem that caused the delay isn’t the first hiccup airport officials have faced since the new terminal opened Oct. 10.
Passengers have had to collect baggage at the old terminal building, littered with debris, or by the terminal’s curbside parking area. The airport also has faced problems with passenger loading bridges that fail to reach certain aircraft because pavement markings on the airport’s tarmac indicating where planes should park were painted too far from the terminal.
Those botched pavement markings, which both Norrell and Mayor Jamie Mayo said would be redone by Friday last week, have yet to be completed.
Norrell, who was out of town Thursday, said the design plans should have been received by the engineering firm by noon Thursday and the markings would likely be done by early next week.
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